Journal Article
COVID-19: Scarring Body and Mind
Kozlowski, Julian (2020-12-22)
"Belief scarring" from the COVID-19 pandemic may generate prolonged effects on the economy—with economic costs greater than the drop in GDP in 2020.
Economic Synopses , Issue 43

Working Paper
Scarring Body and Mind: The Long-Term Belief-Scarring Effects of COVID-19
Kozlowski, Julian; Veldkamp, Laura; Venkateswaran, Venky (2020-04-14)
The largest economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic could arise if it changed behavior long after the immediate health crisis is resolved. A common explanation for such a long-lived effect is the scarring of beliefs. We show how to quantify the extent of such belief changes and determine their impact on future economic outcomes. We find that the long-run effect of the COVID crisis depends crucially on whether bankruptcies and changes in habit make existing capital obsolete. A policy that avoided most permanent separation of workers from capital could generate a much larger benefit than ...
Working Papers , Paper 2020-009